Phoenix Fire
by Eldrakyn
Summary: What if Harry's sacrifice was of a slightly different nature, and what if his death was slightly more permanent.  What would have happened in the war?  And who would have defeated Voldemort...this is that story.
1. Prologue

It was a very melancholy group that left what remained of Hogwarts that day. So many people dead; and Voldemort still won. Harry hadn't stopped him. In times to come there would probably be many who would blame Harry in the years to follow, but for now the only real emotion being felt was disbelief. Harry was dead, and Voldemort had triumphed.

Voldemort had forced Hagrid to carry Harry's body to the courtyard; everyone watching could not believe what they were seeing. Many hoped for a miracle, but he just lay there, cold and lifeless. All there had seen death, and all there saw that death on Harry.

The fight went out of Dumbledore's army after that; many just sat where they were staring into space, others resigned themselves to their fight as Voldemort's Death Eater's lead them off in chains. Only a very few seemed to retain any fight after that, Hermione was one, as was Ron. As devastated as they were, they fought their way out of the courtyard to escape from Voldemort. Luck was not entirely with them in this endeavour unfortunately.

As the still active renegades fought to be free -to get outside of Hogwarts ground so they could apparate and escape- Ron saw a Death Eater lining up a curse to throw at Hermione, he managed to deflect the curse away from her, but neglected to see the one aimed at him by none other than Voldemort himself. He was at the back of the pack and none saw him fall as they ran for freedom. It would only be later as they regrouped that they would realize all they had lost, and weep.

The night started to brighten as the new day took it, but none were still remaining in Hogwarts ruins that could see that as a good thing. If there were any still there, they would have seen a most remarkable sight. A phoenix flew to Harry's body -Voldemort had refused to allow it to be buried, and even created a preservation spell and a pedestal for it so that all could see what happened to those that refused to bow to his will- and landed beside it. This phoenix would have been well known to most; Fawkes. He bent his head over Harry's body and a single tear fell, landed on the broken remains of Harry's wand which was held over his heart. As the tear landed, Fawkes burst into flames. Eventually the flames wavered and died it became obvious that Harry's body and wand had been consumed in the flames as well.

As the new day dawned, it shone on an empty pedestal and, some would say, hope.

**So let me know what you all think, hopefully a longer story, I've worked a couple of chapters ahead just kind of wondering if people want me to continue :). Reviews are much appreciated.**


	2. Chapter 1

It was with a heavy heart that Hagrid got up that morning. It was the one year anniversary of Harry's death, and the start of Voldemort's rule. After rising, he decided he would head down to the pedestal marking where Harry had lain to pay his respects. He had done this every day since Voldemort released him almost six months ago.

Voldemort had been furious when he found out that Harry's body was not there anymore, and felt certain that Hagrid had hidden it or knew where it was. Unfortunately Hagrid didn't know anything about it, he just knew that he had gone back to pay his respects a month after the Hogwarts Battle and found the pedestal empty, it was a short time later that Voldemort had broken down his door trying to find the body. He was convinced that Harry had somehow faked his own death and was working to destroy him and fulfill the prophecy, but after six months Voldemort decided that Harry was indeed dead, and the disappearance of his body was just an anomaly.

Voldemort had still had his Death Eaters patrolling near Hogwarts though, not being able to pay their respects to Harry's resting place had been slowly eating away at the morale of those who called themselves the Resistance. The only one they allowed through was Hagrid and that was because he already knew the truth and they ensured that no one came in contact with him to find out.

It was only a month or so prior to the anniversary of Harry's death that Voldemort pulled the Death Eaters away from Hogwarts to be stationed elsewhere. Hagrid was expecting people to start visiting to pay their respects once word got out, but that wasn't the case. As he walked to the courtyard, he started to worry that people were ignoring the sacrifice that Harry and all those that died that night had made on behalf of people everywhere.

Deep in thought Hagrid, walked onwards to the pedestal until he was startled by fire shooting up from the centre of the pedestal as he approached. He shielded his eyes from the sudden brightness, and when he lowered his hands, there in the centre of the pedestal, was a baby. A baby with jet black hair, and golden eyes.

His jaw dropped as he just stared at this remarkable sight; the baby looked a little like Harry, but there were some differences. Starting suddenly, Hagrid looked around quickly to make sure no one else was around before he quickly scooped the baby up and hurried back to his hut; he didn't know what he was going to do with the baby, he just knew he had to make sure that Voldemort or his Death Eaters didn't find it. Maybe this baby would be a sign that things were going to get better.

Unknown to Hagrid another person had woken up that day realizing it was the anniversary of Harry's death. Also rising with a heavy heart Ginny could barely get up the energy to wake up and face the day. Before his death Harry had given Ginny a job "One will follow after me who will be the end of Voldemort Ginny, I need to know that you will help them, please." He had said someone would follow him, but had never said when; Ginny was starting to lose hope. Here it was a year later and there had been no change, except for the worse.

The Resistance was hanging by a thread; Hermione was desperately trying to stay a step ahead of the Death Eaters and continue to offer actual resistance to Voldemort, and there were many who had fought with them in the beginning and either disappeared or lost the will to fight and gave up. Voldemort ruled the wizarding world now, and not just behind the scenes. There was no one that could stand up to him, especially not since he controlled the Elder Wand. Death Eaters prowled the streets by day and worse things than them prowled around at night.

The Muggle world had not faired any better, once Voldemort had consolidated his control of the wizarding world he had turned on the Muggles. Ripping apart their monuments, and shocking a generation, he had proven beyond a doubt that the stories were real, and that there was nothing the mundane army could do to fight him. Many countries tried, and put up a valiant effort, but when America was ground under Voldemort's heel many of the less developed countries realized that there was nothing they could do. As in the world of magic there are pockets of resistance, but they were few and far between. Things were not going well.

Ginny had heard recently that Death Eaters were no longer patrolling the grounds of Hogwarts. She didn't know why they had stopped, but she was glad all the same, neither she nor Hermione had been able to get past the Death Eaters to pay their respects, or even to visit Hagrid for that matter. She decided that today was the day she went to visit his resting place.

Ginny headed downstairs and found Hermione sitting at the table poring over a map of the area.

"What are you doing?" Ginny asked.

"Looking for a safe place to move the Resistance headquarters to." replied Hermione. "We've gotten wind that you-know-who knows where the current headquarters is and is moving against us, we have to get out of here as soon as possible if we want to have a chance of escaping."

"Ah...Hermione?" Ginny asked "I was wondering whether you had realized what day it is."

"Day? What do you mean? It's Mond...oh...yes, it's been a year since Harry...since he left." Hermione said quietly.

"Right, and we've heard that you-know-who's Death Eaters are no longer patrolling Hogwarts. I don't know why they stopped all of a sudden but I think we should take advantage of the lull in security to pay our respects. And maybe we can get Hagrid out of there, lord knows what has been happening to him since we lost contact." Ginny said quickly.

"You're right, we need to do that. Let me quickly find a safe place to move the headquarters and we'll leave for Hogwarts." Hermione replied.

"Well what about moving the headquarters back to Sirius's house? I don't think anyone has been there since you guys used it as a hiding place while looking for the horcruxes, and I am sure that between the two of us we can spell it so that no one realizes it is even still there." Ginny responded.

"I don't know...but then again, it's better than any idea I've come up with so far. Alright, that's what we'll do, I'll go let everyone know to scatter and meet there in three days time so we have time to hide it." Hermione announced.

Hermione left to alert everyone to the decision that had been made, and it was obvious that people were glad that there was still somewhere safe that they could run to. Hermione looked the worst as far as looking strung out went, but many of the resistance members were not far behind. This past year had been hard on everyone, especially Molly and Arthur. They lost two sons in such a short time, Ginny had been near inconsolable for over a month once they realized that they had lost Ron as well, but her parents...everyone assumed that the only thing keeping them going at this point was the possibility of getting revenge on Voldemort for what he had done to their family.

Ginny went back upstairs and finished packing and getting ready while Hermione informed everyone of the plan, luckily the move wouldn't interfere with a raid on one of the magical artifact's warehouses that had been planned for later on that day. When Ginny came back downstairs she found Hermione ready to go having packed everything away and burnt anything incriminating that had to be left behind. All orders were delivered verbally and enchanted so that no one could accidentally reveal them to the enemy to avoid having to eliminate too much when the resistance was inevitably forced to move on.

Ginny and Hermione waited until everyone else had left before leaving the building, once they left, Hermione cast the spell that would bring the building down to the ground, demolishing any trace that they had been there except for the residual spell traces. This took a lot out of her, so it was a tired Hermione that placed her arm on Ginny's as she turned in the spot and apparated to just outside of Hogwarts proper.

Walking slowly as the weight of everything that had happened over the last year pressed in on their shoulders, it took some time for them to navigate the ruins that was Hogwarts all the while keeping an eye out in case there were still Death Eaters around. As a result, they were almost on top of the pedestal before they noticed that Harry's body wasn't there.

**So I really appreciate those who added my story as favorite, and I hope that more people are willing to give the story a chance now that I am posting the second chapter :). Once again, reviews are awesome. Thanks all.**


End file.
